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Kickin in the Doors

I grew up a Houston Oilers fan, and as such I hated the
Dallas Cowboys. When I was a kid, The Oilers were coached by the loveable,
Texas cliché Bum Phillips, father of former Cowboys coach Wade Phillips. The Cowboys, on the other hand, were coached
by the stoic Tom Landry. The Oilers in the late 1970s were a powerful team, led
by football legend Earl Campbell. As much
as I disliked the Cowboys, I really
hated, and still do this day, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Every year they seemed to knock my team out
of the playoffs. After one such defeat, the Oilers returned to the Astrodome,
packed full of adoring fans, holding signs which said, “Luv ya blue.” Bum Phillips
was handed
a microphone and he uttered these words in the thickest Texas accent one can
imagine:

"Last year we knocked on the door. This year we beat on
it. Next year we're going to kick [it] in."

The [it] replaces the more colorful words used by Coach
Phillips. Unfortunately the Oilers kicked nothing in again the next year. After several
heartbreaking playoff defeats, their owner, Bud Adams, to this day still hated
in South Texas, moved the team to Nashville where they became the Tennessee
Titans. They actually made it to the
Super Bowl in 2000; you can guess what happened.

Upon becoming a father I faced a difficult decision: we lived
in Dallas. Houston received a new NFL franchise, the Texans, but come on, how
does one follow another Texas team in Cowboys country? There was no way I would
cheer for the Titans after they abandoned Houston. So I adopted the Cowboys. It’s been a painful
decision! They have not won a Super Bowl since—blame me if you want. Now it’s
the Cowboys, every year, saying, "Last year we knocked on the door. This
year we beat on it. Next year we're going to kick [it] in." And so
we wait until next year. And the year after that.

Join us this Sunday, October 23, as we make our commitments
for next year. We’ve talked over the last several weeks about doors we
face. They are opportunities. Jesus
said, “Ask, and it will be given to you. Search, and you will
find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7-8). There’s
nothing there about kicking in the door—no need for a violent reaction. Something
on the inside invites us inside. There’s an excitement there. We want to see
what is behind the door.

This Sunday is Commitment Sunday, where we dedicate our lives
and resources to God for another year in ministry at Oak Lawn. Take some time
with family this week to discuss the percentage of your income God is calling
you to give next year, and come ready to share that in a private moment of
prayerful celebration in worship. We’ll hear more about the door each of us
faces, and toward the end of the service we’ll have an opportunity to literally
step through a door, symbolizing newer, deeper, more committed relationship
with God. We will leave the worship excited about new possibilities offered by
a God who loves us, who calls us to enter the door, and who sends us out the
door to serve.

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